LOCAL PRODUCTION

What lasts long stays good - Traditional Elisen Lebkuchen from a family bakery.

For over 110 years, our partner bakery Bock from Nuremberg has been guarding the perfect Lebkuchen recipe - but we were allowed to look into the bakery.

When you taste our Lebkuchen, you immediately understand why the delicious Elisenlebkuchen have been an integral part of Nuremberg's cultural history for almost a millennium: "Lebzelter" and "Lebküchner" are known from the 12th century. [...] Later, a separate guild system developed - the Lebküchner. In Nuremberg, 14 members joined together for the first time in 1643. The history of the wafer gingerbread begins in Nuremberg with the "Elisenlebkuchen", which a factory owner may have named after his daughter Elisabeth. (Wikipedia) The round winter messengers taste wonderfully spicy, juicy and nutty - very basic and those from our family bakery Bock very special!

We have master confectioner Wölfel to thank for the incomparable taste of the Lebkuchen. Through his years of experience, he knows the recipes in his sleep - including those of the secret spice mixture of anise, cardamom, coriander, cloves and, last but not least, ginger, cinnamon and allspice, which distinguishes the individual Lebkuchen of every baker. For the Lebkuchen, our master Wölfel mixes together a whole lot of marzipan, freshly beaten egg whites, lightly toasted ground nuts, the unique spice mixture and a maximum of 10% flour and lets the whole thing knead well. The hearty spicy mixture is rounded off with our regional forest honey from Rügland.

Last but not least, Master Wölfel checks the consistency of the dough with unerring instinct and, if necessary, optimizes it with a little water so that the Lebkuchen is really juicy. Everything is then kneaded well and the finished dough is spread onto wafers. The raw dough pieces are placed on trays, stacked in large rolling trolleys and dried overnight.

When the bakery smells magical the next morning, the Lebkuchen are in the oven and thus on the home stretch. After they have cooled, they are iced, in the classic way with icing or with one of three types of chocolate: milk, dark or white. Under this crunchy sweet protective coating, the Lebkuchen remain as moist for months as they were on the day they were baked.

Now you might think Lebkuchen is a conventional Christmas cookie, but far from it! Lebkuchen are the absolute superfood among the Christmas cookies: They consist to a large extent of high-quality nuts, which are full of unsaturated fatty acids, which belong to a healthy diet in any case. Just the thing for the winter season!

Many thanks to pastry chef Wölfel, it is an honor to be able to look over your shoulder.